People, March, 2011

Recent high-profile moves in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industriesMover of the month is Dr Alan Hippe who replaces Erich Hunziker on the corporate executive committee of Roche

Mover of the month

Erich Hunziker, chief financial officer, chief information officer and deputy head of the corporate executive committee at Roche, is to retire at the end of March. Hunziker was appointed chief financial officer of Roche in 2001. In 2005 he was named deputy head of the corporate executive committee. Since the beginning of 2010, he has been responsible for global finance and informatics.Dr Alan Hippe (pictured) will replace Hunziker on the corporate executive committee in April. He has been chief financial officer and a member of the executive board of ThyssenKrupp since April 2009.

MedeConnect Healthcare Insight has named Anna Garofalo as managing director. She joined from Double Helix.

Prism Ideas has promoted Carol Hills to chief operations officer following a successful two-year period as the company's director of medical marketing.

Joanna Dupont-Inglis has become EuropaBio's director for industrial biotechnology. Dupont-Inglis, who takes on her new role in April, is communications manager.

Lord Drayson was awarded the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) Award for Lifetime Achievement at the BIA's Annual Gala Dinner. The award is in recognition of Lord Drayson's significant contribution to the sector, most recently he served as science minister until May 2010, and previously as a co-founder of successful biotech company PowderJect Pharmaceuticals.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has appointed Dr Véronique Walsh to the role of business unit director, neuroscience and immunoscience. She will lead the sales and marketing teams for BMS' neuroscience and immunoscience portfolio and investigational products.

Sanofi-aventis has bolstered its emerging markets team with the appointment of four senior managers, promoted from within the company. Patrick Aghanian (bottom left) has become head of the Eurasia region, Thomas Kelly (bottom right) has taken charge of the Asia region, Heraldo Marchezini (bottom right) has been selected as head of the Latin America region and Jeremy Moulding (top right) has become head of the Japan & Pacific region. They took up their roles in February.

Dr Freda Lewis-Hall, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Pfizer, has been named as the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association's 2011 Woman of the Year. In her 30-year career, Lewis-Hall has held leadership roles in direct patient care, academia, media, government, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. In September 2010 she was appointed by the Government Accountability Office of the US to the inaugural board of governors for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Toni Hoover, site director of Groton/New London Laboratories, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, said: "Freda has been a staunch advocate for eliminating healthcare disparities in traditionally underrepresented communities, the advancement of women across the healthcare industry, as well being a committed mentor to many women and people of colour." Lewis-Hall will be honoured at the HBA's 22nd annual Woman of the Year Luncheon on May 5, at the Hilton New York.

Eli Lilly has appointed Sue Mahony as senior vice president and president of Lilly Oncology. Mahony succeeds John H Johnson, who resigned in January. Steve Fry has been named as her replacement, becoming senior vice president of human resources and diversity.

Merck has announced that Bev Lybrand, the senior vice president who has led the division developing Gardasil, its vaccine against cervical cancer, will run the company's cardiovascular business. Lybrand will be replaced by Soren Bo Christiansen, another senior vice president, who has been leading the division that oversaw the osteoporosis drug Fosamax and allergy pill Singulair.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals has added Bill Ringo to its board of directors. Ringo serves as executive partner at venture capital firm Sofinnova Ventures and as a senior adviser to Barclays Capital. Ringo was senior vice president of strategy and business development for Pfizer and spent 28 years at Eli Lilly & Company.

AstraZeneca has appointed the UK's Advertising Standards Authority's communications chief to head its worldwide media relations activities. Esra Erkal Paler will become head of global media relations in April 2011, based in London. Erkal has also worked for L'Oreal and Unilever UK and Ireland.

Dr Martin Sims has joined Apitope International as research director. Sims will be responsible for the company's research operations within the autoimmune and allergic diseases therapeutic areas.

IDEA Pharma has appointed Jeff Frick to the US arm of the business. Acting as a principal strategist, Frick, who has more than 25 years of industry experience, will take on a commercial lead role to expand further the company's existing and future portfolio.

Syntaxin has selected Dr Russell Greig as its chairman. Greig spent the majority of his career at GlaxoSmithKline.

Andy Sandham has joined Bicycle Therapeutics as non-executive chairman. He will work closely with the company's board to drive development of a biotherapeutics using its proprietary bicyclic peptide technology. Meanwhile Bruce Booth has also joined the board to replace Regina Hodits as the Atlas Venture representative director.

Circassia has appointed Dr James Shannon to its board of directors. Shannon was formerly head of global development at Novartis Pharma.

AiCuris has announced that Dr Marie-Paule Richard has assumed the responsibility of chief medical officer at AiCuris, Germany. Richard has more than 24 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

ICON has named Dr Anthony Priestley as medical director at its clinical pharmacology unit in Manchester, UK. Priestley, who has more than 11 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development, joined from LCG Bioscience.

Professional services firm PwC has appointed Andrew Packman as head of its UK pharmaceutical and life sciences business, succeeding Andy Kemp.

Cherry Wood, managing director of Liberation Communications, has been elected as chair of the Healthcare Communications Association, which is celebrating its 10th birthday this year. Woods will replace Sarah Matthew, joint chief executive of Virgo Health, who held the role for the past three years.

Synexus has appointed Efim Borodowski as director of international business development. Efim joined from Fisher Clinical Services in Switzerland.

Joshua M Sharfstein, deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, is to leave that post after less than two years to become Maryland's secretary of health and mental hygiene.